Autosomal recessive hypercholesterolaemia (ARH), characterized clinically by severe inherited hypercholesterolaemia, is caused by recessive null mutations in LDLRAP1 (formerly ARH). Immortalized lymphocytes and monocyte-macrophages, and presumably hepatocytes, from ARH patients fail to take up and degrade plasma low density lipoproteins (LDL) because they lack LDLRAP1, a cargo-specific adaptor required for clathrin-mediated endocytosis of the LDL receptor. Surprisingly, LDL-receptor function is normal in ARH patients' skin fibroblasts in culture. Disabled-2 (Dab2) has been implicated previously in clathrin-mediated internalization of LDL-receptor family members, and we show here that Dab2 is highly expressed in skin fibroblasts, but not in lymphocytes. SiRNA-depletion of Dab2 profoundly reduced LDL-receptor activity in ARH fibroblasts as a result of profound reduction in LDL-receptor protein, but not mRNA; heterologous expression of murine Dab2 reversed this effect. In contrast, LDL-receptor protein content was unchanged in Dab-2-depleted control cells. Incorporation of 35S-labelled amino acids into LDL receptor protein revealed a corresponding apparent reduction in accumulation of newly synthesized LDL-receptor protein on depletion of Dab2 in ARH, but not in control, cells. This reduction in LDL-receptor protein in Dab2-depleted ARH cells could not be reversed by treatment of the cells with proteasomal or lysosomal inhibitors. Thus, we propose a novel role for Dab2 in ARH fibroblasts, where it is apparently required to allow normal translation of LDL receptor mRNA.